Stoxx 600, FTSE, DAX, UBS, Novo Nordisk earnings

LONDON — European stocks closed marginally higher on Wednesday amid a slew of corporate earnings reports in the region.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 was provisionally 0.1% higher by the end of the session. The U.K.’s FTSE rose almost 1%, as Germany’s DAX shed 0.6%, while France’s CAC 40 rose 1.2%, and Italy’s FTSE MIB adding 0.6%.

The gains came after regional markets settled down following a short-lived sell-off in cryptocurrencies and precious metals.

Santander was trading 3.6% lower after the bank said it would buy U.S. regional lender Webster Bank in a deal worth $12.2 billion. Santander also released its fourth-quarter earnings a day early, which showed net profits of 3.76 billion euros ($4.45 billion) for the three-month period, ahead of consensus estimates of 3.41 billion euros, with the Spanish lender also unveiling a new 5-billion-euro share buyback program.  

Novo Nordisk was down 4.9% after its share price plunged 18% in early dealmaking. The company released its results ahead of schedule Tuesday. It warned investors that it sees sales and profit growth declining this year, after it was hit by lower prices in the U.S. and the end of exclusivity for its blockbuster Wegovy and Ozempic weight loss drugs in China, Brazil, and Canada.

Earnings were in focus with Novartis, GSK, Infineon Technologies, Equinor, Credit Agricole, Handelsbanken, Carlsberg, and OMV all posting earnings reports on the day.

Shares in UBS were down 6.3% after Switzerland’s largest lender reported a net profit of $1.2 billion in its fourth-quarter results, a 56% year-on-year rise which beat the $919 million forecast by analysts.  

Asia-Pacific markets mostly fell overnight, tracking Wall Street losses after a sell-off in U.S. technology stocks in the previous trading session weighed on sentiment, while gold extended gains for a second day.

The S&P 500 fell on Wednesday as traders continued to move out of tech stocks, and the key jobs report for January came in weaker than expected.